Today in History

Published 8:00 pm, Monday, May 4, 2009

Today is Tuesday, May 5, the 125th day of 2009. There are 240 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became America's first space traveler as he made a 15-minute suborbital flight in a capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

On this date:

In 1818, political philosopher Karl Marx was born in Prussia.

In 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, 51, died in exile on the island of St. Helena.

In 1862, Mexican forces loyal to Benito Juarez defeated French troops sent by Napoleon III in the Battle of Puebla.

In 1891, Carnegie Hall (then named "Music Hall") had its official opening night in New York City.

In 1904, Cy Young pitched the American League's first perfect game as the Boston Americans defeated the Philadelphia Athletics 3-0.

In 1925, schoolteacher John T. Scopes was charged in Tennessee with violating a state law that prohibited teaching the theory of evolution. (Scopes was found guilty, but his conviction was later set aside.)

In 1942, during World War II, Japanese forces landed on the Philippine island of Corregidor.

In 1955, West Germany became a fully sovereign state. The baseball musical "Damn Yankees" opened on Broadway.

In 1981, Irish Republican Army hunger-striker Bobby Sands died at the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland in his 66th day without food.

In 2000, the tightest alignment in 38 years of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the sun and the moon -- as seen from Earth -- took place.

Ten years ago: President Bill Clinton began a morale-boosting trip to Europe that included a visit to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he met the three American soldiers just released by Yugoslavia. The first Kosovo refugees brought to the United States, 453 of them, arrived at Fort Dix in New Jersey.

Five years ago: Seeking to calm international outrage, President George W. Bush acknowledged mistakes but stopped short of an apology as he condemned the abuse and deaths of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. soldiers during appearances on two Arabic-language TV networks. Picasso's 1905 painting "Boy with a Pipe" sold for $104 million at Sotheby's in New York, breaking the record at that time for an auctioned painting.

One year ago: Three men were arrested and beaten by Philadelphia police officers after a vehicle chase in a scene videotaped by a TV news helicopter. (No charges have been filed against the officers; however, the three men have been ordered to stand trial on attempted murder charges for a triple shooting earlier that night.) Irvine Robbins, co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain, died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 90.